From this post where I made the comparison ("You couldn't have waited?") between 5x6 (Morgan saying it to Hotch) and 3x17 (Hotch saying it to Morgan), @masterwords has correctly (and with her beautifully screen-capped receipts!) pointed out that Prentiss is in both of them.
Again, this is clearly an intentional call back to 3x17. (Between 3x16 with Reid and 3x17 with Morgan, Hotch is having a very miserable week as SAC.) But! In 3x17, Hotch comes up to Morgan alone (he happens to be followed be the rest of the team, but he's certainly not inviting them into the conversation), and Morgan takes the blame even though it's not actually his choice. Prentiss does make a face, but nobody looks to her for that, and Morgan certainly doesn't make it flippant.
Why does Morgan take the blame? From Prentiss's face, it's because he thinks the Miami detective is hot. And Morgan is certainly flirty, but he's flirty a lot. (Early season 1 where he tells Reid he doesn't date women with guns, later that season with the CIA, etc.) Even when he's talking to her right before that, he lets her make assumptions and he doesn't set any concrete plans.
(We don't see a lot of it, but based on what both JJ and Savannah say in later seasons, I think that Morgan is king of the soft no. "Would have loved to, but the plane headed out, definitely keep me in mind next time." "Ooh, mama, that sounds amazing, but you know I don't mix business and pleasure." Which fits in well with my Hotchgan theory that both Hotch and Morgan play this game: Morgan smiles and leans in to Prentiss in 2x16 and Hotch appears with a hand at Morgan's back and a case. "You know Hotch keeps us running," Morgan says, bowing out of a date, and Hotch makes sure to have a list of emergencies just in case Morgan considers getting a girlfriend.)
At any rate, I think Morgan takes the blame because he knows Hotch. Hotch looks pissed, but he doesn't say anything, and I like to think it's because they both know Morgan is lying. And Morgan knows the "Hotch scale" of good and bad (like he tells Jordan in season 4), and the Miami detective very nearly got a lot of people (including Morgan) killed. That's not good on a regular scale and bad on a Hotch scale. Morgan can handle Hotch, but he knows if he's honest then Hotch is going to leave the Miami PD extremely unhappy.
At any rate, it's a fascinating parallel, because Morgan takes the blame in 3x17 for endangering people when it's not actually his fault, and in 5x6 Hotch goes after an unsub (though they all do that, so the writers could have made that one a little more out of the ordinary), and then he makes a face and invites Prentiss into it as opposed to running ahead (like in 3x17) and having a moment alone.
The parallel is their silence. Hotch scowls and storms off. Morgan looks as concerned as he has all of season five and doesn't say a word.
I'll play! 7, 11 and 43 (if they haven't been asked already) please!
7. what was your life like last year?
My life last year was pretty tame compared to a lot of other people's, I imagine! I started working from home due to the pandemic and just never left my house. I had everything delivered, got kind of depressed and had to work on ways to get myself out of that funk. But so fortunate to have a job where I didn't have to put myself at risk.
11. are you listening to music right now?
I am (sort of) trying to focus on writing, so I'm listening to ambient concentration music from youtube. I don't think it's working. đ¤Ł
43. favourite song ever
Wow this is one of the hardest questions. I really rotate through so many favorite songs. Right now the song I can't stop playing is Bed of Roses by Bon Jovi, so I'll go with that!
divorce arc addict here again! what does fran have to say about this situation? inquiring fran-lovers need to know. (the divorce arc you're never going to write sustains me some days.)
Ah, the divorce arc I'm never going to write. Some of my favorite daydream fodder, I'm glad to know it's also sustaining someone else.
Fran knows about the wedding, of course. Aaron doesn't call to ask for her blessing--Derek says Aaron exaggerates his trust issues, and maybe that's true, but Aaron knows Derek would treat anyone knowing about the proposal before he did as a violation of his privacy if not his trust--but they conference call Derek's family to set up the video call where they exchange vows.
(They're careful not to call earlier, because that would have given the Morgan family time to book a flight, and Derek's not sure he can handle overcoming the issues he definitely doesn't have regarding marriage and his mother and sisters all at the same time.)
So, Fran knows about the marriage. She knew about Aaron and Jack well before that, of course, let Derek quiz her on what a little boy needed in the house when he was convincing Aaron to move in. She talks to Aaron as much if not more than she talks to Derek, because -
Well. She tells herself it's because it can be hard to get ahold of her little boy, most days, either busy at work or the sound of the phone drowned out by one of his house demolishing tools. She tells herself it's because Aaron needs the mothering, and Derek's had it his whole life.
The truth is, she's been talking to Aaron for years. About his life. About hers. About Derek.
The truth is, sometimes it's easier to call Aaron. (She's met Aaron before, of course. She has photos printed out of the Christmas he and Jack and Derek came, sees his red nose and smiling face every time she walks up the stairs. She met him once the first year Derek moved to DC when they came through on a case, thought of him for years as quiet, polite, his eyes kind and his demeanor shy.
But when she thinks of Aaron, it's not the smile or the shy tuck of his chin. She thinks of that night, years ago, in her living room, her baby out of jail and sitting next to his colleague on her sofa.
She can still see it, sometimes, when she sits in the same chair: her little boy, all grown up, hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees, his fingers woven together and his exhaustion written into the slump of his shoulders, the way his gaze stayed focused on his hands.
He was trying to explain Bufordâs arrest, she remembers. She kept interrupting, could barely stop pacing to sit in the chair across from them, ready to storm the police station and shout about her sonâs unfair arrest, to shout that they couldnât arrest the man whoâd taken their whole family in after Hank had died.
âMaâam,â Aaron had said quietly, always quiet, but somehow he was at her shoulder and not sitting beside Derek on the sofaâand why was he there anyway, in their home?--one gentle hand at her back and guiding her into her own kitchen. âCould I have a word?â
This is how she remembers Aaron: standing in her small kitchen, still in his suit, his gaze soft but his chin lifted, his arms crossed. âYour son is trying to tell you something.â He paused for a moment. She didnât notice, brimming with her own maelstrom of emotions, but he swallowed. Took a breath. âYou need to listen to him.â She can still see him standing there, a dark spot in the yellow light of her kitchen, the black of his suit against the pale wood of the table. âYou need to let him talk. You need to believe him.â
She doesnât think he said anything else, but she can hear the promise in his eyes. When she thinks of that night, she can hear him tell her that if she says one more word in defense of Buford, he will take her son and leave.
Aaron would never say that to her, of course. But he sits back down on the sofa next to Derek, clumsy enough that their knees knock together, and he stares unblinkingly at her while her son confesses secrets too horrible to be true, pressing his shoulder to Aaronâs, mumbling to his hands.)
Calling Aaron means that she knows about Emilyâs death, though neither of her boys say much. It means she thinks she knows how to interpret Derekâs silences on the phone, all the things her reticent baby never says. (Then she thinks of all the things he said that night, and wonders for the firstâfor the millionthâtime, if sheâs ever known her baby boy at all.)
She knows when Aaron gets an assignment out of the country. She and the girls send care packages, cookies and cards and little puzzles, because Derek always liked word games as a kid. She starts sending them to Derek and Jack and Jessica, too, though Derek says the strain in his voice is just the job.
Itâs Aaron who tells her that heâs back in DC. Itâs Aaron who tells her that he helped fake Emilyâs death. She tries to talk to Derek about it, the cordless phone in her hand as she paces around the living room, brimming with care and advice and -
She hangs up an hour later when Derek says Jack is calling for him and realizes that Derek never said anything at all.
Neither boy tells her that Derekâs moved out, butâfor all that she missed over the yearsâFranâs no fool. Aaron keeps asking her for details of Derekâs life that he should already know. Derek stays quiet on calls, like the twelve year old boy sheâd picked up from the station decades ago after his first arrest, his thin shoulders hunched and his lips sealed. Eventually, she realizes that Jack is actually calling for Derek on the phone, not down the hall.
She tells Derek that Aaron meant well, when he lied about Emilyâs death. She tells him that marriage is hard sometimes, but itâs worth fighting for. She tells him about how his father was a terrible flirt, and she had to navigate her own unfounded jealousy to make the marriage work. She tells Aaron that she must have raised one stubborn man, since he wouldnât listen to reason or see sense.
âYou raised him to stand up for himself,â Aaron tells her kindly, and doesnât castigate his husband for standing as far away from him as possible.
âStop telling Derek how to live his life,â Sara tells her when sheâs cooking dinner and eavesdropping on Franâs weekly call. âYouâre his mom, not his marriage counselor.â
âIâll tell him how to live his life!â Desiree offers, sitting at the table and trying to throw carrot slices into Saraâs pot. âHim and his white boy.â
Thereâs never really been any telling Derek what to do, though, not since Hank passed. Fran could coax him, she could shout or cry or beg, and Derek would nod or hunch or stare at his hands. He was always a good boy, even when he was running with those older kids. Kind to his neighbors. Sweet to his mama.
They come back to Chicago, of course, for Cindi. Poor Cindi. Fran can still see her as a little girl with her twists and her knockers, poking her tongue out through her missing teeth, as a teenager arguing with Yvonne in the living room, sounding just like Desiree would a few years after that. But Derek saves her. Derek, and Aaron, and their team.
He comes by the house afterward. He sits on the sofa. His shoulders are hunched. His fingers interlaced. He stares at his hands.
Fran talks. She canât help it, most times. She talks, and then she turns to the kitchen and she can almost see Aaron standing there, years before, telling her to listen and be still.
She sits down. âDo you still love him?â she asks, her own hands folded between her knees, her eyes on the slope of her babyâs nose, the bend of his thumbs.
He huffs out half a laugh, sits back and looks at her through those lashes Sara always envied. âMore than anything,â he tells her, smiles more to himself than to anyone else. âThatâs never been the problem, Ma.â
âThen what is?â she wonders, and Derekâs expressive eyebrows raise, his eyesâhis daddyâs eyesâshocked, perhaps, that sheâs stopped talking long enough for him to reply.
He shakes his head. She stays quiet. Listen, she thinks. Believe him. He takes a deep breath, holds it for a moment; and he might be about to reply when the doorbell rings.
âItâs probably Mr. Carson,â she says, rolling her eyes, because the octogenarian down the street has been proposing to her ever since she invited him to Thanksgiving dinner last year.
Itâs not.
Itâs Aaron, standing at her door, two bunches of flowers in his hands, his chin tucked. âThese are for you,â he says, handing her the larger of the two bouquets. She opens her arms and pulls him into a hug, drags him down a little so that she can rock him like she does her babies, squeeze him tight and make sure heâs still healthy and whole. He returns the embrace, careful, gentle with her and with the flowers still in his hands.
He doesnât ask where Derek is. He never looks away from her face, but she listens to the quiet and sends him to the living room. She tells him sheâll be just a few minutes, sheâll need to go hunting in her boxes for her nice vase.
She cuts the flowers. Finds the vase. Puts some coffee on, then brews Aaron some tea. When she goes back into the living room, theyâre sitting on the sofa: Aaronâs fingers are twisted around each other, Derek is worrying at the plastic around the edge of his bouquet. Theyâre speaking too quietly for her to hear, if theyâre talking at all.
âI brought tea,â she says, and Aaron stands up to take the tray from her, his shoulder brushing Derekâs. He passes Derek a cup first, then sits back down beside her son, their legs pressed together, Aaronâs hand hovering over Derekâs knee.
âWhen do I get more grandchildren?â she asks them, and Aaron chokes on his tea, and Derek laughs, throws his head back and turns to smile at his husband, captures Aaronâs hand in his and winks at Fran.
(Maybe Fran doesnât know everything about her boy. Maybe there are secrets heâll never share, some things sheâll never be quiet enough to hear. But she knows when heâs happy. He sits on her sofa and he laughs for the first time she can recall hearing all year, and Cindi and her baby are safe with Yvonne and Franâs baby is right here, holding his husbandâs hand.
They sip their drinks quietly, her boys, and Fran talks about the house and the neighbors and Mr. Carson and the girls. Aaron nods politely at everything she says, but he canât seem to look away from Derekâs hand. All marriages have problems, she knowsâMr. Carsonâs wife, for instance, has her fair shareâbut she watches Derekâs thumb draw patterns on Aaronâs skin and she thinks they might be all right after all.)
I am delighted to announce that in the @cmgiftexchange I had the great good fortune to have @masterwords as my giftee. (Which is fitting and also very funny and also led to a great deal of panic, because oh lord, Hotchgan for the queen of Hotchgan, what will I write her??)
So, as the AO3 summary says, I thought "Hotch whump! Season two? No. Lo-fi arc? No. Season five? No. What does she want? The semi-canonical divorce arc I'll never write!" Did I write that? No. But I wrote something that isn't not that and is also sort of a coda to 7x20 "The Company", and it's here: what will we call it (when it's no longer love). (The second chapter is all the divorce arc snippets from tumblr for everyone not closely following my tumblr.)
Merry Christmas, friend! I hope this helps brighten your twelve days of Chirstmas, and makes your yuletide gay. :)
heyyy! for the ship asks: 2, 3 and 19 (the 2nd one, about the moment you realized you shipped them) please and thank you!
Anything for you! :) (Also for me, quite honestly, these are lots of fun.)
2. Favorite thing about this ship?
The body language! The glances, the way they move into each other's space and around each other. The fact that they understand each other and keep an eye on each other in canon.
3. Least favorite thing about this ship?
This is a tough question, because there's so many angles to view it from. Fandom-wise? People are dismissive and racist about Morgan. Unfortunately, a lot of that is also canon from poorly done writing, which is a different angle on least favorite things. Writing-wise, it's that they're both strong, silent types which means it can be difficult for in-character dialogue!
19. What was the moment in canon that made you go "Yeah, I ship it"?
First, some unnecessary background: I was at a friend's house and they had some late season CM playing and I was between hyperfixations so I went home and started watching it. Morgan was immediately my favorite and so I started contemplating who would be fun to ship him with. (Reid was the obvious choice, but he annoys me, and I also avoided that one for several other reasons.) But I was several episodes in and couldn't really envision him with anyone. Hilariously, I want to say it was 1x19 "Machismo" that made me consider Hotch (the episode topic is poorly handled but the personal space between Hotch and Morgan is zero and beautiful). Once I started looking for it, it was in all the quiet moments, and the end of season two/beginning of season three really sold it for me.
PS: Off topic, but I was watching Lo-Fi and thinking about you watching the seasons as they aired and the whole summer imagining which of them had been blown up and if the cast list would be changing for season four.
